A towering construction crane collapsed on Friday during a violent
rainstorm in Saudi Arabia’s city of Mecca, Islam’s holiest site,
crashing into the Grand Mosque and killing at least 87 people ahead of
the start of the annual hajj pilgrimage later this month.

An Iraqi couple is
reportedly alleging that the father of a three-year-old Syrian boy whose
body washed up on a Turkish beach was the captain of the vessel that
capsized killing at least 12 people, including his family.

Reports
say Zainab Abbas and Ahmad Hadi, who lost two children in the tragedy,
told journalists in Baghdad that after the accident, Abdullah Kurdi
begged them not to tell Turkish police that he was in charge of the
boat.

Kurdi has said he paid smugglers 4,000 euros for the deadly voyage — the money his sister sent to him from Canada.

But
The Wall Street Journal reported that Abbas and Hadi said that prior to
the voyage a smuggler they met in Turkey introduced them to Kurdi,
saying he was the captain of the vessel and his own wife and children
would be aboard.

Russia called on Friday for military-to-military cooperation with the
United States to avert "unintended incidents" as it stages navy
exercises off the coast of Syria, where U.S. officials believe Moscow is
building up forces to protect President Bashar al-Assad.

The New Democrats would immediately halt Canada’s bombing campaign
against Islamic State militants and withdraw special forces trainers who
have been instructing Kurdish peshmerga fighters, leader Tom Mulcair
said Thursday.